Thursday, March 1, 2018

Following Florida school shooting, Walmart will no longer sell guns to anyone under 21

In the wake of the of the Parkland massacre, Walmart has taken it upon themselves to change their policies on both real and toy guns.

After a 19-year-old expelled student of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School murdered 17 of his former classmates and teachers two weeks ago, Walmart has increased the age of buying a gun or ammunition at their stores from 18 to 21.

"In light of recent events, we’ve taken an opportunity to review our policy on firearm sales. Going forward, we are raising the age restriction for purchase of firearms and ammunition to 21 years of age," Walmart said in a statement. "We will update our processes as quickly as possible to implement this change."

Walmart isn't the only store making changes like this. Dick's Sporting Goods also changed their age policy and has stopped selling "modern sporting rifles," as well as high-capacity magazines. Kroger also announced today they will stop selling guns to anyone under 21 years old at their Fred Meyer stores.

Walmart hasn't sold "modern sporting rifles" (which include AR-15s) since 2015. It should be noted that 2015 was the year that two people in San Bernardino, California shot and killed 14 people with weapons that would fall under that category.

Walmart has taken their policy a step further by also pulling all Airsoft guns that resemble "modern sporting rifles" from their website and stores.